Object-based attention overrides perceptual load to modulate visual distraction.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance Object-Based Attention Overrides Perceptual Load to Modulate Visual Distraction

Attentional spread in deaf and hearing participants: face and object distractor processing under perceptual load.

The case of human deafness constitutes a unique opportunity to examine possible consequences for perceptual processing due to altered sensory experiences. We tested whether deaf--in contrast to hearing--individuals are more susceptible to visual distraction from peripheral than from central face versus object stimuli. The participants were required to classify the gender of a target male or fem...

Working memory load and distraction: dissociable effects of visual maintenance and cognitive control

We establish a new dissociation between the roles of working memory (WM) cognitive control and visual maintenance in selective attention as measured by the efficiency of distractor rejection. The extent to which focused selective attention can prevent distraction has been shown to critically depend on the level and type of load involved in the task. High perceptual load that consumes perceptual...

Accurate expectancies diminish perceptual distraction during visual search

The load theory of visual attention proposes that efficient selective perceptual processing of task-relevant information during search is determined automatically by the perceptual demands of the display. If the perceptual demands required to process task-relevant information are not enough to consume all available capacity, then the remaining capacity automatically and exhaustively "spills-ove...

Plugging the Attention Deficit: Perceptual Load Counters Increased Distraction in ADHD

OBJECTIVE Increased vulnerability to extraneous distraction is a key symptom of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which may have particularly disruptive consequences. Here we apply Load Theory of attention to increase understanding of this symptom, and to explore a potential method for ameliorating it. Previous research in nonclinical populations has highlighted increased percept...